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45-day sentence for drunk driver who left accident to keep drinking

OTTAWA — A woman who left the scene of a collision to continue drinking at a bar before driving home drunk has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.

“The public demands this type of conduct be denounced in the strongest possible way,” Nicholas said before sentencing the single mother of three children to 45 days in jail.

Nicholas — who told Bertrand she is herself a single mother — allowed Bertrand to serve the sentence intermittently on weekends so she could still care for her children.

Bertrand was found guilty in June of impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident in relation to her actions on Nov. 17, 2006 which began with a crash on Highway 174 that trapped two people in their car and left debris — including the bumper and licence plate to Bertrand’s minivan — strewn across the roadway.

The initial crash was followed by another collision and a near miss that involved a police officer pushing to safety a city worker who was cleaning up the debris before he could be struck by a vehicle.

Nicholas chastised Bertrand for not only failing to stop to check on the condition of the people in the vehicle but allowing debris from her minivan to be strewn across the road.

“A city worker nearly lost his life because of the debris,” she said. “It created a hazard on the road.”

Court heard Bertrand, who had been drinking at a south Ottawa bar, then left the scene of the accident and drove to a pub near her Orléans home and consumed at least three more drinks before returning home in her damaged van — actions that Nicholas described Friday as “shocking behaviour.”

Before leaving the bar, Bertrand told the bartender she wasn’t driving and refused a ride home from a neighbour. One witness reported she missed her own driveway.

When police finally tracked her down using her vehicle’s detached bumper and licence plate, Bertrand answered the door naked. She had to be asked to get dressed.